The setting of Elmer Gantry always takes place in a religious community. From the begining the reader see's how unperfect a religious community can be. When poeple think of church they think of beautiful buildings full of serenity, but they may never realize the secrets that hide behind those doors. The setting of Elmer Gantry starts out at Terwillinger College, a baptist private school, located in the outskirts of Gritzmacher Springs, Kansas. It was an old stone building with dull features. It was often refered to as looking like an old person's home.
This quote from Elmer Gantry shows how many Christians felt about other religions; "Make a study of missions, and think how clean and pure and manly you'd want to be if you were going to carry the joys of Christianity to a lot of poor gazebos that are unrder the evil spell of Buddhism and a lot of these heathen religions." Since the setting takes place in the early 1900s, religion and which types were acceptable was very disputed. An example of this dispute is how Eddie Fislinger and other students of Terwillinger College believed that the Baptist religion was the only one that truly obeoyed God. They believed all other religions such as Methodist, Judiasm, and Catholicism went against God and his teachings. People were very sterotypical about other religions and their rituals and ways of worship. This quote from Elmer Gantry also shows Christians attitudes towards this subject; "Why it's fellows like you who break down the dike of true belief, and open a channel for higher criticism and sabellianism and nymphomania and agnosticism and heresy and Catholicism and Seventh-day Adventism and all those horrible German inventions."
revor T
The religious setting played a huge part in the protagonist's, Elmer Gantry, life. Throughout his whole life he was torn between the choice of following a baptist life or continuing to be a sinner. Elmer Gantry is the number one person that you would expect not to become a minister. Shockingly, he would spend his whole life practicing religion and became a Baptist and Methodist minister.
The whole religious setting in this entire era is full of corruption. The church communtiy was proved to be very hypocritcal in this novel. Elmer Gantry was the a perfect example of this corruption. Throughout his career of being a minister he still smuggled people out their money, had sexual affairs, and was an alcoholic. Elmer Gantry was not the only minister to commit sins in his own church most of them actually did. Including Elmers love, Sharon Falconer, who practiced the religion of Evalengist. Throughout the years she scammed people out of their money by saying she had healing powers. Thousands of people followed her; beleiving her religion was the future. They even believed she could heal people such as the deaf and the mentally handicapped. The setting being in a church destorted many people's common sense so many people believed she spoke the truth and often paid alot money for these healings.
This whole story was in a way ironic considering the religious community it always took place in. I know no one is perfect, but the corruption that went on in Elmer Gantry's church was unreal. Even when he got caught by the higher ministers he would beg and promise it would never happen again and all the while he would be planning his next sin in his head. Sinclair Lewis chose the perfect setting by using a religious community for this story. I believe he was looking for a controversial story in a place people trusted the most. The readers' responses were universial. People could not believe someone could accuse the house of God with so many sins and lies.
This quote from Elmer Gantry shows how many Christians felt about other religions; "Make a study of missions, and think how clean and pure and manly you'd want to be if you were going to carry the joys of Christianity to a lot of poor gazebos that are unrder the evil spell of Buddhism and a lot of these heathen religions." Since the setting takes place in the early 1900s, religion and which types were acceptable was very disputed. An example of this dispute is how Eddie Fislinger and other students of Terwillinger College believed that the Baptist religion was the only one that truly obeoyed God. They believed all other religions such as Methodist, Judiasm, and Catholicism went against God and his teachings. People were very sterotypical about other religions and their rituals and ways of worship. This quote from Elmer Gantry also shows Christians attitudes towards this subject; "Why it's fellows like you who break down the dike of true belief, and open a channel for higher criticism and sabellianism and nymphomania and agnosticism and heresy and Catholicism and Seventh-day Adventism and all those horrible German inventions."
revor T
The religious setting played a huge part in the protagonist's, Elmer Gantry, life. Throughout his whole life he was torn between the choice of following a baptist life or continuing to be a sinner. Elmer Gantry is the number one person that you would expect not to become a minister. Shockingly, he would spend his whole life practicing religion and became a Baptist and Methodist minister.
The whole religious setting in this entire era is full of corruption. The church communtiy was proved to be very hypocritcal in this novel. Elmer Gantry was the a perfect example of this corruption. Throughout his career of being a minister he still smuggled people out their money, had sexual affairs, and was an alcoholic. Elmer Gantry was not the only minister to commit sins in his own church most of them actually did. Including Elmers love, Sharon Falconer, who practiced the religion of Evalengist. Throughout the years she scammed people out of their money by saying she had healing powers. Thousands of people followed her; beleiving her religion was the future. They even believed she could heal people such as the deaf and the mentally handicapped. The setting being in a church destorted many people's common sense so many people believed she spoke the truth and often paid alot money for these healings.
This whole story was in a way ironic considering the religious community it always took place in. I know no one is perfect, but the corruption that went on in Elmer Gantry's church was unreal. Even when he got caught by the higher ministers he would beg and promise it would never happen again and all the while he would be planning his next sin in his head. Sinclair Lewis chose the perfect setting by using a religious community for this story. I believe he was looking for a controversial story in a place people trusted the most. The readers' responses were universial. People could not believe someone could accuse the house of God with so many sins and lies.
Character analysis
Trevor T
Brittney